Top 10 Tech Policy Press Podcasts of 2021
Justin Hendrix / Dec 23, 2021In 2021, Tech Policy Press published 54 episodes of its podcast, The Sunday Show. That number includes a handful of special episodes published during the week, and audio segments from the October Tech Policy Press conference, Reconciling Social Media and Democracy. In all, more than 200 guests participated in the podcast, from lawmakers and tech policy experts to engineers and academics.
Here are the Top 10 Episodes of the year, as measured by listenership:
Seeing Inside the Algorithms
This episode featured a discussion about how to make sure independent researchers have access to data from technology platforms with Brandie Nonnecke, Nate Persily and Rebekah Tromble; and second, a book talk with Noah Giansiracusa, the author of How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News: Exploring the Impacts of Social Media, Deepfakes, GPT-3 and More.
The Bad News on Internet Freedom
This episode discussed results of the annual Freedom on the Net report from Freedom House with Allie Funk and Adrian Shahbaz, considered a new proposal to regulate online harms in Canada with Daphne Keller and Michael Geist, and looked at the complexity of generating policies for content management on social media with Chris Riley.
Platform Integrity, Platform Democracy
This episode featured a discussion with Jeff Allen and Sahar Massachi, two former Facebook employees who are the founders of the Integrity Institute, and a conversation about platform democracy with Aviv Ovadya, Joe-Bak Coleman and Renée DiResta.
The Perils of Amazon Ring
This episode focused on Amazon's Ring camera security service and how it fits into their broader views on tech and society with Evan Selinger and Chris Gilliard.
A Whistleblower, Facebook, Social Media & Polarization
This episode considered the relationship between Facebook and polarization with Emily Kubin, a researcher who conducted an analysis of 100 social science studies on the subject.
FacebookFuels the Fire
This episode featured Keach Hagey, one of the authors of that Wall Street Journal exclusive, “Facebook Tried to Make Its Platform a Healthier Place. It Got Angrier Instead: Internal memos show how a big 2018 change rewarded outrage and that CEO Mark Zuckerberg resisted proposed fixes”, followed by a discussion on the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights report, Fueling the Fire: How Social Media Intensifies U.S. Political Polarization – And What Can Be Done About It with authors Paul Barrett, Grant Sims and Justin Hendrix.
The Facebook Papers: A Conversation with Adrienne LaFrance
This episode featured a discussion with Adrienne LaFrance, executive editor of The Atlantic, and author of a piece is titled ‘HISTORY WILL NOT JUDGE US KINDLY’: Thousands of pages of internal documents offer the clearest picture yet of how Facebook endangers American democracy—and show that the company’s own employees know it.
Holding Big Tech Accountable for Disinformation and Incitement to Violence
This episode featured a conversation with Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat representing Illinois’ 9th district, and a discussion on the threat of Big Tech and disinformation to social movements that took place at NetRootsNation featuring Melissa Ryan (a member of the Tech Policy Press masthead), Bridget Todd, Brennan Suen and Michael Khoo.
Information Disorder and Who Profits From It
This episode features Courtney Radsch in conversation with Vivian Schiller, Executive Director of Aspen Digital, a part of the Aspen Institute that just released the final report of the Commission on Information Disorder; followed by a conversation with Karen Hao, senior AI editor at MIT Technology Review about her year reporting on how the business model of social media platforms incentivizes the deterioration of information ecosystems.
A Conversation with the Oversight Board's John Samples and Julie Owono
This episode features a discussion on the role of the Facebook Oversight Board with John Samples and Julie Owono– two Board members who have a deep expertise in questions of internet governance, tech policy, human rights and free expression-- hosted by Justin Hendrix and Courtney Radsch.
